


Fifth Anniversary

by WeepingAngel413



Category: New Warriors
Genre: Civil War (Marvel), Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-06
Updated: 2015-06-06
Packaged: 2018-04-03 04:40:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4087264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WeepingAngel413/pseuds/WeepingAngel413
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam, Aracely, and Kaine learn a bit more about Stamford and the Civil War.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fifth Anniversary

**Author's Note:**

> I heard some people talking about how they refused to give the New Warriors a chance because of Stamford, and I wanted to let out a bit of my frustration. On mistake shouldn't rule out an entire series.
> 
> Also, the Robbie/Vance is very gen, but feel free to wear shippy goggles like I do.

"Hey Spiderman!"

"I. Am. Not. Spiderman." Kaine didn't even look up from his cereal as Nova started calling for him from the couch.

"Yeah, okay, whatever Spidey. Come over here, Aracely and I are gonna watch the memorial thingy on tv."

"What are you talking about, Nova?"

"Come on! Don't you know what day it is?"

"I don't really care."

"It's been 5 years since Stamford happened. It's an important event to remember if we're going to be super heroes."

"What do you even know about it, aren't you like twelve?"

"Yes, and you're a clone that wasn't paying attention at the time, and Aracely doesn't remember it, so we're going to watch the memorial to see what's so important."

"Come onnn, Kaine, pleeaase?" Aracely grabbed Kaine's arm and pulled him over to the couch where the show was starting.

The television host started to talk. "Today marks the 5th anniversary of what happened here in Stamford, Connecticut. 612 people lost their lives in this event, many of them schoolchildren."

Vance walked in and poured himself some cereal, still tired and more or less dead to the world like he always was for ten minutes after he got up. 

The screen was now showing the memorial and cemeteries covered in flowers and gifts. "People from all over the world gather to pay their respects to all the people now gone due to the event that sparked what people now call the Heroes Civil War."

Vance suddenly seemed much more awake as he jumped out of his chair and stood next to the couch. "Turn it off."

"What? Why?" Sam started whining and holding the remote away from Vance.

The reporter continued on the screen. "Here we have the footage directly prior to the event..." 

"Oh. Sam, you should turn it off."

"Aracely, what are you talking about?"

"He's about to come in..." Vance's eyes widened and he turned to the door to see Robbie step into the room.

Just then, Robbie appeared on screen as well.   
"These guys are totally out of our league man, no way we should be going in there!"

"But think of the ratings, Microbe! This could be the best episode of the entire second season!"

The real Robbie had his eyes glued to the screen and a horrible empty look on his face. Vance stood right next to him and was trying to get him to look away. Then everything on the screen was in flames and Robbie dropped to the ground.

"Thanks to the acts of these foolish so-called 'heroes', a revolution was sparked. So many lives lost. Here now to talk about that loss is Miriam Sharpe, mother of now deceased Damien Sharpe.

"I will never forget what happened five years ago today. My son is gone, and the loved ones of so many others as well. I regret that the Civil War happened and more violence was created, but we cannot let ourselves forget Stamford and all that happened because of it."

Kaine and Sam were looking back and forth from the tv to Robbie. Aracely just looked sad. Robbie was looking at the ground with Vance kneeling in front of him, trying to look into Robbie's eyes.

Aracely gingerly plucked the remote from Sam's hand and the tv went off. Vance growled over his shoulder. "Get out." The three obeyed.

"Robbie..."

"Vance." Robbie finally looked up. There was no expression or life in his eyes, and his voice held no emotion.

"You're not a monster. We've been over this."

"I know."

"No, Robbie, I don't think you do." Robbie looked away but Vance pulled him back to look in his eyes. "You made a mistake. Things went bad. But it wasn't your fault. You didn't go in there thinking someone would get hurt. You were stupid, yes, but never cruel. You're an amazing person Robbie, and my closest friend. I care about you so much, and you can't keep blaming yourself for this."

"Everyone else does."

"Everyone else is wrong. Go back to bed, and I'll be right there." Robbie nodded and slowly stood up before walking back into his and Vance's shared room.

Vance also stood and let Aracely, Sam, and Kaine back in. The three of them sat on the couch and Vance stood across from them. He began to explain.

"The New Warriors team before this one included Robbie and me. About two years before Stamford, a tv company approached us with an offer to make us into a reality tv show. I left, but the others stayed and accepted. We were all young and stupid, and to a group of teenagers fame and money was too much to resist.

"Robbie was in charge and clearly, he made a bad judgement call. Many people died, including the rest of the team besides him. The only ones who made it out were Robbie and Nitro. Nitro escaped and Robbie was stuck in jail. He became the most hated person in the country.

"The Super Human Registration Act was supposed to help. I was with Stark, but so many of my friends were with Cap... It became a mess. That was a horrible time, for everyone.

"After, I found Robbie again. He had been taken by Osborn and became Penance, Aracely knows about that. She can explain it later, because I..." Vance closed his wet eyes and looked down before taking a shaky breath and looking up again.

"Robbie and I became teachers at Avengers Academy. Robbie got better, but it was slow. Really slow. The Academy wasn't helping enough. I caught him trying to leave and we left together, just traveling around the country. 

"When we saw you, Sam, flying by, at first we thought Rich was back, the old Nova, one of our teammates. The was when Robbie really started to get better, when he decided to become Speedball again. You know the rest.

"Robbie isn't healed, not completely. I don't know if he will ever be completely better. He will always be scarred by everything that happened, but he's a good person. Make your own decision about what you think of Stamford, or the Civil War, but know that Robbie never wanted to hurt anyone. Ever. And one mistake someone made as a teenager shouldn't define someone for the rest of their life."

Vance left the room without a backward glance.

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry if five years doesn't fit into the timeline, I guessed. If you have a better estimate, please let me know!
> 
> Also, sorry about the lack of Mark and Selah. I couldn't cime up with a good reason for them to not already know about Stamford. I guess they're out on a date or something.


End file.
